The Craft Cabinet - Summer 2012

Sometimes the best things are those that are done at the last minute, thrown together spontaneously. That certainly proved to be the case with the first installment of The Craft Cabinet. Jules and I are typical textbook over-thinkers, but when you have less than 4 weeks to throw together an event, lest one of the co-hosts goes into labor, you don't have time to over-think, you just do, and that's exactly what we did. To say it came together exactly as I had imagined it would be a bit of an understatement, it came out exactly as I had imagined it, maybe even better. Witnessing women laughing, getting to know each other, creating, eating and drinking is one of the most enjoyable things I can imagine.

The venue was Salvage Life, a vintage boutique/studio own by Beth Giles. When I reached out to Beth about hosting the event there, she responded within a matter of minutes, saying yes, but could we just time it around the birth of her daughter, which set to occur at any day. "Sure, no problem, but could we just schedule it right before the birth of my child too?" It sounds a bit crazy when I replay the conversation back in my head, but when you love what you do (Beth), and you're passionate about making something happen (me), you don't let something like child birth get in your way ha! Beth, thank you from the bottom of our hearts, because we seriously couldn't have done this without you.

Beth's shop is chock full of pretty, and is bright and charming, so we knew it didn't take much in terms of decor to really set the space off. We were also excited knowing that the ladies coming to the event would appreciate such a venue, and it made us happy to see some ladies stay after the event to make purchases. Because of our limited budget, we went with simple, vintage inspired decor that tied in with our color scheme. The morning of the event I called up Jules and said "I'm getting balloons, lots of balloons." Call me old-fashioned, but nothing spells party to me like balloons.

All the other details just sort of came together, from the food to even the color coordinated bottles of Izze and sparking water, which was an inadvertent mistake, but a happy one nonetheless. The catering manager at the local Corner Bakery in Long Beach partnered with me on our order, literally the day before the event. They were amazingly nice and accommodating.

Jacqui of Baby Boy Bakery provided the mini cupcakes, and hand delivered them to my door the morning of the event. For that I can't thank her enough! She did not disappoint, as usual, and all 60 cupcakes were gone by the end of the night.

Since the purpose of the night was to craft, we made sure to carve out plenty of time to do that, and although some projects weren't finished, no one seemed to mind.

The people and companies that pulled through to contribute to the swag bags were incredible, and deserve a post all their own which will come later this week, but how cute did they end up? I stuffed and stamped (with our own stamp!) and Jules decorated. We divided and conquered really well together.

Thanks Jules for being a terrific partner, thank you Tristan for designing a gorgeous logo and invitation, thank you to my sister Tina and my husband Art for helping to set up and clean up, thank you Danni and Gena for arriving early and helping to decorate, and thank you to my good friend Mary of Yung Bean Photography, who agreed to photograph the event with just a few days notice. She did a wonderful job didn't she? And thanks to all the truly wonderful ladies who took a chance on us and came out to the event! If you'd like to visit their blogs, here you go! Jules and I are already busy planning the next Craft Cabinet, for sometime in November, just in time for the holidays. We hope you can join us again!

Danni | Oh, Hello Friend Andrea | He Calls Me Wifey Laura | Hollywood Housewife Rachel | Crimson to Wool JJ | The Blah Blah Blahger Brenda | Secret Agent Josephine Lisa | Trapped in North Jersey Kelly | The Reading Nest Vanessa | Little Grey Pixel Sarah | Little Penelope Lane (and Penelope Lane Boutiques) April | The Gingerbread Blog MJ | Teaching in Heels Melissa | Melissa Dell Monick | Lilly Bug Lane Gena | Bake All The Things Crystal | The Lil’ Cupcake Kara Murano